Active in the area of commissioning new music since 1988, the group has offered world premiere performances of works by many composers including John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, Donald Grantham, David Maslanka, and Dan Welcher

One of the guiding principles of the ensemble is contact with the leading musical minds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Four outstanding wind band composers are represented on this album

The title piece by JOHN MACKEY, Wine Dark Sea, is the world premiere recording of this important new work

Commissioned by the UTWE for the 100th Anniversary of The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, it has been performed in front of ecstatic audiences and received raves around the world

This is contemporary wind band music at its best, in extraordinary performances

RECORDING September 2014 at Bates Recital Hall, The University of TexasENGINEERING Keith O. JohnsonLABEL Reference RecordingsMASTERING Keith O. JohnsonRELEASED April 2016AVERAGE RATING 5 Stars out of 5MADE IN USASTYLE Classic / SymphonyAVAILABLE as long as inventory stock